Tennessee Tech is all, literally, for its National Golf Invitational debut
The day before the National Golf Invitational, 10 Tennessee Tech golfers were recovering from a long day out in the desert — their tanks were fueled and their spirits lifted by one of the West Coast’s best-known benefits: In-N-Out Burger.
Few coaches travel this many men to a postseason event, but head coach Polk Brown saw an opportunity in the NGI invitational and devised a way to make it fit for his entire team.
The Tennessee Tech men’s golf team makes its NGI debut this week.
Brown, in his 15th season at Tennessee Tech after a four-year stint with the Golden Eagles in the early 2000s, left the team just one season earlier in his career. His team won the Ohio Valley Conference Championship in 2024, earning an Automatic Eligibility berth to the NCAA Regionals that year. This time, when Brown got the call that his team, which had fallen to Arkansas-Little Rock in the conference title game two weeks earlier, had earned a spot at NGI, it felt like a gift from left field.
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“I didn’t even know we were going to get an invitation,” said Brown. The tournament, now in its fourth year, will be played May 22-24 at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona.
Tennessee Tech’s ranking (No. 193) doesn’t do justice to the strength and consistency the Golden Eagles have shown. They compiled a head-to-head record of 97-43-2 and finished in the top five as a team before nearly winning that OVC crown in the playoffs.
Here is a team built for the postseason event. NGI allows the Golden Eagles to see how they stack up against other top programs across the country while also experiencing the glamor and atmosphere of the postseason that will return to campus to begin next season.
That kind of experience will be especially important as Tennessee Tech moves into the Southern Conference next year, joining schools with outstanding golf programs like Chattanooga, Furman and Mercer.
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“My hope is, we really want to go out there and play some quality golf over the next few days and hopefully win the tournament, but it’s just something that they’re going to come in thinking that we want to do every year – whether it’s this event or regionals,” Brown said. “We don’t want our seasons to end in mid-April or late April.”
Brown was actually on his way to the US Open at a local talent training facility in Medina, Ohio, the day he found out that Tennessee Tech had qualified for the NGI. Note that Brown wasn’t just driving to watch a player compete — he had his tee time, and Golden Eagles head women’s coach Amanda Brown, a native of Ohio, was on a mission to make him a meal.
Tennessee Tech men’s golf coach Polk Brown found a way to make NGI’s team appearances benefit his entire team.
Immediately, Brown thought of his two seniors, Nick Etherton and Haden Maxwell. But he also thought about the whole team.
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“When we found out, I wrote a message to the whole team and told them what the dates were,” said Brown. “Fortunately, they didn’t like scheduled family vacations or anything. . . . I didn’t want guys who weren’t playing to sit down and watch the team every day out there in 95-degree weather.”
Brown and Smith got the job of building a golf course for four more players who weren’t at NGI, using connections Smith had from time spent living in the area and working at TPC Scottsdale. Brown likes the way NGI allows them to do their jobs, but “it’s a cool way for some guys to play, and, start their summer — give them a great opportunity to get ready.”
While the five starters and an alternate play a practice round and then compete at Southern Dunes, Smith will take the remaining four to play a round at Troon North in Scottsdale. On Saturday, Smith, who is also an assistant men’s coach, will coach the team at NGI while Brown takes his reserves to Arizona Country Club.
On Sunday, the whole team will be at the Southern Dunes to give Etherton and Maxwell the punishment they deserve.
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Maxwell is one of the leading scorers in program history. He won twice earlier in the season and Brown admits there could have been more titles – he finished in the top 4 five times.
Etherton, a transfer from Chattanooga, provided a big boost, too.
“Actually, all 10 guys have just been training well,” Brown said. “We have a lot of good leadership on the team – Nick and Haden were probably our leaders in that sense but I think they all generally get along very well – it’s a very close team, they spend a lot of time together.”
Given that closeness, going 10 seems like the right way to end the season.
This article appeared in Golfweek: Tennessee Tech all in National Golf Invitational debut
